Princess Augusta Sophia (8 November 1768 – 22 September 1840) was the sixth child and second daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

Childhood and adolescence

thumb|left|A portrait of [[King George III, Queen Charlotte, and their six eldest children in 1770. Augusta is the infant in her mother's arms.]]

Augusta was born at Buckingham House, City and Liberty of Westminster, on 8 November 1768. She was the sixth child and second daughter of George III (1738–1820) and his wife Queen Charlotte. Her father so dearly wanted the new baby to be a girl that the doctor presiding over the labour thought fit to protest that "whoever sees those lovely Princes above stairs must be glad to have another." The King was so upset by this view he replied that "whoever sees that lovely child the Princess Royal above stairs must wish to have the fellow to her." To the King's delight, and the Queen's relief, the baby was a small and pretty girl.

The newborn princess was christened on 6 December 1768, by Frederick Cornwallis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Great Council Chamber at St. James's Palace. Her godparents were Prince Charles of Mecklenburg (her maternal uncle, who was visiting England), the Queen of Denmark (her paternal aunt, for whom the Duchess of Ancaster and Kesteven, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, stood proxy) and the Hereditary Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (her paternal aunt, for whom the Duchess of Northumberland, Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen, stood proxy). Lady Mary Coke once declared the month-old Augusta to be "the most beautiful infant I ever saw". A British princess, especially from so fertile a mother, was a prize, but Augusta's father seemed increasingly unwilling to allow his daughters to marry.

Relationship with Brent Spencer

Largely denied access to personal relationships with men of their own rank, several of the daughters of George III embarked on such romances with gentlemen at court. Augusta Sophia first met Sir Brent Spencer, a senior Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army, around 1800. As she wrote to her brother, the future King George IV, then Prince Regent, in 1812, the two had entered into an understanding around 1803, while Spencer was stationed in England. In 1805, he was appointed as an equerry to the king. The couple conducted their romance with the utmost privacy, and Augusta asked the Prince Regent in 1812 to consent to her marrying Spencer, promising further discretion in their behaviour.

While no record of a marriage between the two exists, it was noted at the court of Hesse-Homburg at the time of her sister Elizabeth's marriage in 1818 that Augusta was "privately married." It was Spencer who informed Augusta of her mother's death later that year, and Spencer was said to be holding a locket with Augusta's picture when he died in 1828.

Later life

According to a flyer held by the V&A Archives, Augusta was a patron of L. Bertolotto's flea circus.

In 1828 Augusta was heard to remark to a friend: “I was ashamed to hear myself called Princess Augusta, and never could persuade myself that I was so, as long as any of the Stuart family were alive; but after the death of Cardinal York [in 1807], I felt myself to be really Princess Augusta”.

On 28 June 1838, Augusta attended the coronation of her niece Queen Victoria. On 10 February 1840, she attended Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She died later that year on 22 September at Clarence House, St. James, London, aged 71. Augusta was buried in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel, Windsor on 2 October, after lying in state at Frogmore.

Arms

As of 1789, as a daughter of the sovereign, Augusta Sophia had use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a rose gules, the outer points ermine.

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Ancestry

References

Further reading

  • J Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte maintains the Princess Augusta Sophia Collection of English Drama, a group of more than 800 plays published from 1618 to 1826.
  • Letters from and concerning Princess Augusta Sophia viewable online at the Royal Collection